Undercover Badge; Next Generation

Chapter thirteen

CHAPTER 13

Walking next to Ingrid through the throngs in the hall when lunch period started was downright painful. Being jostled left and right made me have to bite down on my tongue so hard I swear I tasted blood. And with every involuntary, nasally, whining mewl that crawled up my nose, I could see Ingrid get angrier. At me, the jostlers, or at the pain I felt, I couldn't tell, so I tried to bite down harder and retreat deeper into my hoodie like a cloak of armor.

And that was when the throng paused, took one collective breath and parted.

He was everywhere, and it was starting to piss me off, a lot.

Vice principal Mercer walked along side him, her cheeks rosy and her smile much larger than usual. Even she was not unaffected by him.
"... Parent teacher association wanted to have a professional take a look at it, and I had heard that you were back, and I thought, well why not?"

He chuckled- my hair stood on end and the skin between my shoulder blades crawled, neither pleasant nor unpleasant. I wanted to hit him with the canvas Ingrid was carrying.
"I am not a contractor, Mrs. Mercer, I'll just take a look at the structural integrity and look for the cause."
"Oh," she blushed. "Its Miss."

That caused me to look heavenward, jaw open and throw my arms out to the sides as if telling whatever higher deity was being amused by my life that I gave up. Everyone else was enthralled by Matthew Cavalier. My face screwed up into a scowl.
"It is very odd that the windows would just shatter so." Her voice reached me from down the hall, and that caused my head to perk up from where I'd been glaring at the floor.

The windows. Glass raining down for no reason. What the hell was this circus that had become of my life?

The second he was out of sight, the buzz began, and it didn't stop when we got to our picnic table; Ingrid was just as fascinated by the man as everyone else.

"He's here again! He's so, so, so super-duper-uber sexy, can I please just tell you, babe." she almost vibrated with enthusiasm. Her lunch today involved tuna salad and crackers. I had my apple.

"Honestly, I wish I was here faster. Just to like, enjoy that. And you need to hear the stories, babe, the chicks are trying to get to him. All I've heard is no-one's winning." the last part made me focus on her words and sop pressing my long fingernails into the apple skin with satisfying snaps.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Something bubbled at the back of my neck.

"The girls," she said through a mouthful of tuna. "They've been all over him. I heard Amanda Byle paid your brother three hundred bucks to get his, like, paper route so she could have a totally legit reason to like, be at his place. Pretty smart from a cheerleader." I cocked my head. Her words annoyed me for some reason.

"Oh! Oh, look!" she sputtered, cracker bits flying. I looked. There he was, walking out of the building, cell phone to his ear. A blue checkered flannel button down, sleeves rolled up, over a white shirt and black jeans. He looked very good, and it pissed me off more. Hushed squeals and chatter came from behind me, and when I turned I saw the face of almost every female and half the guys staring out the windows.

Honestly. The town was little, I understood that, and Matthew was wildly attractive, I understood that too. Also, yes a fireman and very well built and mysterious, and yes, our little town rarely had any excitement so a new face was always entertainment. But this was ridiculous. We were treating him like he was a god, but what was he? He was just human. A bad human. A human with a gun, and guns kill people and he was going to kill me. He was a bad persona and all they could see was his face, his stupid face.
Rage, the extent to which I'd never experienced before clawed my heart and stomach. White hot burning slices that cauterized the flesh as its claws ripped my insides apart. My jaw locked and my teeth ground together and I felt so angry, so upset. I felt, for the first time in my life, violent. I felt dangerous.